


Out There

by soniagiris



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Apocalypse, Despair Apocalypse, Dorks, F/M, First Meetings, Fusion with HPA saga, Gen, Gen Work, Hope vs. Despair, Hurt/Comfort, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 10:31:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12724899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soniagiris/pseuds/soniagiris
Summary: There's a paper plane, lying on blood-stained concrete. Its untainted lack of color contrasts the encompassing ugliness.





	Out There

**Author's Note:**

>   * beta by vee @ikuzonos, bwwess you....
> 


At first, it looks like a stray dove. But then Shuichi wakes up fully and realizes that he hasn't seen any birds for the past half a year. Before the thought of getting Tenko to have her check this thing crosses his mind, he's already kneeling on the filthy concrete to take a closer look. Besides, considering her broken leg... His thoughts scatter.

It's a paper airplane. Straightening up, Shuichi looks around his surroundings, ruined blocks under the dull redness of the sky, and wonders from where the plane did come. The snow-white paper feels smooth underneath his fingertips as he picks it up, and something about this delicacy makes his throat tight. Maybe it's because it's been… quite a long time since he's experienced anything untainted. 

Or maybe that's the despair, finally winning this six-month-long fight. 

No, he protests feebly, almost crumpling the paper in his hand. Stretching out the airplane, he notices the notes hastily written on it, but no title, no name, just a soundless melody. It seems professionally composed, at least it appears so. Shuichi had a music class in the middle school, but his knowledge of how to write a piece is near to nonexistent, he can't even tell for which instrument this composition is intended. Anyway.

He brushes a speck of dust from the paper and notices it was nearby the left edge. So, if the plane landed facing north and the wind came from the east… 

There are a few buildings on the southeast, and one of them is in a pretty good state. Momota-kun even suggested they investigate it and maybe move their base there, but Tenko declined. According to her, it's better to stay on the move and look for that organization they've heard about on the radio. Momota-kun grumbled about it for a while, but Shuichi told him to stop, please. And the next day, they got into a scuffle with a group of Despairs. One of them managed to throw Tenko against the wall before Momota-kun hit him from behind with a baseball bat, but the girl was already curling up in pain, her cargo pants soaking with blood, its metallic scent saturating the air—

"What did you get there, hm?" 

With his hand instinctively shooting out in the direction of his pocket knife, Shuichi whips back, then relaxes.

"Good morning, Momota-kun." He gives him the paper, and the other boy frowns.

"Huh. Would ya look at this shit." He grins. "Interesting. Where did it come from, though?"

It's a rhetorical question because Momota-kun probably damn well knows Shuichi already deduced it out. There's no need to answer it, they've been over this 'sherlocking' too many times to count.

"I'd like to check who sent that," Shuichi says, taking the paper back and pocketing it. "Will you stay with Tenko-san?”

"You sure you wanna go alone?" Momota-kun furrows his brows. "After all, that might be a trap."

"It might be," Shuichi agrees. "But I won't go unarmed." He brushes his hand against the small pistol tucked behind the waistband of his pants. Momota-kun nods knowingly, then stretches out.

"Whatever. You're a big boy; you can go by yourself once in a fucking while." He laughs, then asks, "Have you eaten?” 

"Sure," Shuichi lies smoothly. It's easier than saying that his stomach is tied into a knot after the last nightmare. And he got pretty damn good at avoiding the truth, after all.

Without anything else to say, he starts his walk towards the buildings, occasionally looting the nearest ruins. It comes to nothing, of course. His luck burned out a long time ago. Kicking a piece of rubble off his way, he pushes his hands into his pockets and promptly pulls them out, remembering Tenko's words about 'constant vigilance!'. (He was pretty sure it was a reference to something). 

It takes him about half an hour to get where he wanted to, and he finds himself staring up, up at the scratched concrete and broken glass. Even the ghosts have left, something whispers inside his mind, and Shuichi scoffs at such needless sentiments. He starts climbing the stairs, looking for any signs of life.

As could be predicted, he finds them only on the tenth floor. When he rests his hands on his knees and tries to catch some breath, half-open and relatively unscratched doors catch his eye. Shuichi straightens up and frowns.

"Hello?" he calls cautiously, tensing in case he needs to flee. However — the girl who peeks from behind the door isn't despair. Her pink eyes are clear.

"Eek!"

"Waah!" 

They both stumble backward, then blink at each other in confusion. Finally, the girl clears her throat, still half-hidden, and says,

"H-hey, you scared me!" She leans forward, one hand still clenched on the doorknob, and waves her finger in his face. "What are you even doing here? How did you find me?"

"S-sorry..." Shuichi offers her a shaky smile. "I— I found a paper plane and thought it might be from here, and, ugh, that really doesn't sound convincing..."

"It wouldn't — if I weren't the one to send those airplanes," the girl confirms flatly, then moves back and makes a beckoning gesture to him. "Truth be told, I'm surprised it worked."

"It sure was an unusual way of announcing your presence," Shuichi says and follows her lead. "Bit risky, I must admit."

"But you're not despair," she says simply.

"I could be a scavenger or something like that." Shuffling his feet, Shuichi looks around the room. There isn't much there, bare walls and wooden floor, a ratty yet clean futon in the corner, portable stove on the other side, a door to what could be a bathroom... And a pile of paper planes on the windowsill. 

"And you're not that either," the girl replies as she turns to him. "You're too lanky for that." 

If it weren't for the Tragedy, Shuichi would feel a bit embarrassed by such a bold statement, but surviving for so long would be hard without getting more thick-skinned. And yet — he blushes a bit. 

"H-hey..." he mutters, looking down. The girl laughs shortly, then nudges him in the arm. 

"Sorry!" When he looks up, her face is lit up with a gentle smile. "My name is Kaede Akamatsu, by the way. But I go by Kaede."

"I'm Shuichi Saihara," he dips his head politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Akamatsu-sa—"

"Kaede?" She tugs on the drawstring of her hoodie, not quite meeting his eyes. 

"K-Kaede," Shuichi relents. He's pretty sure his face is on fire, but, when he steals a glance at Aka— Kaede!, she's blushing so hard it's almost luminescent. 

"H-how dumb," she whispers not entirely to herself. "My friend, H— Maki, she told me to use her first name because it's shorter, and that being polite is a waste of time when you might end up in danger, and, ah, I'm rambling." She kicks herself in the shin gently, with the top of her stained sneaker. 

"You're not," Shuichi says gently. Kaede gives him a sneaky smile. 

"It's been a while since I talked with anyone. But at least I can tell Maki would've had several strong opinions about Shuichi, so that means you're trustworthy."

"So that's why you were sending those airplanes..." He reaches out for one and, when Kaede nods approvingly, unfolds it. The sheet music on it differs from the previous one, from what he can tell. 

"I composed it myself," Kaede says absently. "Kind of melodramatic, if you forgive the pun, but it worked, didn't it?"

"You sure piqued my attention..." Shuichi puts the plane down and turns to her. "So... Are you alone here?"

"Yeah. When the Tragedy unfolded, Maki and I holed ourselves up here. We stole food from vending machines and avoided everyone. But..." Her face twists. "She left a few weeks ago. I don't know why." She shrugs. "She never liked me, maybe that's why."

"Still, that's hardly a reason for abandoning anyone," Shuichi says quickly; tries not to think about his uncle and his unnecessary sacrifice. 

"Dunno. Maki was like a cat, she had her own ways, and I'll be danged if I knew how her mind worked. I'm not mad, anyway."

Sitting on the futon, Kaede pats the spot beside her. Shuichi joins her wordlessly and fights off the urge to pull his hood over his face. It's... nice, yet weird, to be so close to someone he barely knows. Hell. Someone he doesn't know at all. 

"What about you, Shuichi-kun?" Kaede asks after a few beats of silence. "Are you alone?"

"N-no," he shakes his head. "At first I stayed with my uncle, but he... Yeah."

"Yeah," Kaede echoes. Her hand finds his and holds on tight. Somehow... Somehow, it feels natural.

"But my classmates were there, so I'm... I'm not alone." He swallows, hard. "We travel. Apparently, there's a rescue system somewhere in the north, have you..."

"Mm!" Kaede nods. "They're called Future Foundation. I did think about contacting them, but getting to their base without anyone to watch my back..."

"Well," Shuichi agrees. 

Once again, they fall silent. Kaede traces her thumb over Shuichi's, humming quietly. The boy thinks about asking about it, but decides not to, and simply watches her. 

Smooth blonde hair falling to the curve of her jaw, sharp rose-colored eyes, a small scar on her brow and calloused fingers. A pianist. A survivor. And there's courage in the line of her lips and how her free hand never strays from the pillow, where she probably keeps a hidden knife. She's ready to fight and help and be helped. Like this kid their age who struggles against the killing game, whose chubby face fills the screens all around this god-forsaken city as he shouts about hope — and what does he even know about hope? Not being out in the wild, a dulled knife in one hand as despair-filled people laugh and cry, where it's truly kill or be killed, no place left for choosing to abstain and survive without spilling anyone's blood, and somehow,  _ somehow _ , when Shuichi looks at Kaede, that's when he realizes that hope for the world will be found on the streets. The hope of the world is in brave people who don't hesitate to fight.

And yet he can't help but have the compassion to Makoto Naegi. He's like one of those paper planes — not filled with any content yet, but when it happens, it'll be through pain and loneliness, and it'll create beauty and bravery. Maybe even hope?

"Kaede," Shuichi finally speaks. When she blinks at him, he continues, "Would you join my group?"

**Author's Note:**

> a/n
> 
>   * **cw: blood mentions; death mentions; violence discussion; injury mentions.**
>   * comment/kudo if you read/liked
>   * this is old and bad so just take this before i grow sick of it
>   * title&inspiration from this [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5XRAKLxztE)
>   * hmu at twitter/tumblr (link in my profile) if you wanna
> 



End file.
